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I had been back to work for a little over a month when all of this happened. Things had started to get tense almost immediately after I returned to work. I’m not sure if my aunt was resentful that I had something to do that didn’t involve her, or if she was just bored and lonely. Whatever the case, I thought going back to work was going to make things easier and reduce everyone’s stress level. I hadn’t considered that my aunt really did not like being alone and me going back to work was something she would resent. My husband and I had spent our Saturday off moving my aunt’s things from her storage unit to a shed she’d had placed in our backyard and trying not to tell her off for not helping us. Some things are best left alone, and I wasn’t in the mood for anymore drama. I would learn later that universal law mandates that what you focus on expands. In the months leading up to this incident, I had been at my wit’s end with my aunt’s moods and unpredictable behavior. I was so focused on how much I didn’t like what was going on and wanting it to stop. I didn’t realize at the time that although I wanted everyone to get along and the conflict to stop, I was basically asking the universe to give me more of it. Vibes are vibes. Positive or negative, if you’re sending them out, the universe sends them back; no exceptions. I was focused on all of the negative aspects of the situation, when I should have been focusing on how great it would be when everyone was getting along and happy.

My mom called me earlier that day, and hearing the irritation in my voice asked me what was wrong. My mom is the first one to admit that she’s not one for keeping her opinions to herself. Considering, I should have known better than to say anything, but at the time I was angry and I needed to vent. Later that day, she mentioned what I’d said to my dad. Compelled by what he was told, he posted his, “Did your aunt ever help today,” question to my daughter’s Facebook timeline. After my aunt told me what she was so worked up about, I posed what to me seemed an obvious question, “Why are you upset with her for that? _____ just answered his question. Seems like you should be upset with my dad, so why don’t you confront him about it?” My aunt gave me a convoluted answer that went all around the issue, but never really answered my question. Frustrated, I repeated it. I still didn’t get an answer that made her reaction make sense to me. I could understand her anger at the conversation being on Facebook for others to see, to which my aunt emphatically agreed; although she was under the impression that “Everyone can see it!” I explained that the only people who could see the comments were people who were friends with my daughter and my dad; which is why she could see it. My explanation only seemed to fuel her fire. Trying to get back to my point I asked , “Well, whatever your reason, what makes you think it’s OK to talk to my daughter like that? What would possess you? What were you thinking?” After a few seconds of stunned silence, my aunt proceeded to tell me that my daughter had said “F**k you!” to her first!

Most parents’ knee jerk reaction would be to say, “Not my daughter. She would never say that,” but not me. I would have wanted to say that, but after everything we’d been through with our daughter, I would have to check myself. But, this time I could say,’not my daughter’ knowing I was right. Thanks to a lack of insulation in most Florida garages, my husband and I heard the entire conversation from our seats outside in our garage. My aunt and daughter were in our dining room with only a wall separating us. I stared at my aunt in disbelief. Even after everything that happened over the past several months, I couldn’t believe she was doing this! She stood in my dining room indignantly refusing to admit her lie. My daughter was beside herself. She was angry about what my aunt said she did, and worried that we might believe it. I finally had to send my daughter to her room to get her away from the situation. Things had escalated to ridiculous proportions with my two younger kids looking on, which was already happening way too often for me. Later, my youngest daughter would ask me, “Why was auntie being mean to sissy?” I didn’t know what to say. How do you explain to a 3-year-old about untreated Bipolar Disorder? What other reason could there be for a woman in her 60’s behaving like she was and blaming a 16-year-old for her behavior?

During the time before my aunt came to stay with us, we’d spoken on the phone regularly. During our conversations, I often confided in her about the issues my husband and I had with our oldest. She was a teenager, but she also had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder which complicated those difficulties exponentially. After 6 years of struggles, things had just started to settle down a few months before my aunt came to live with us. She knew my relationship with my oldest daughter was already strained and why. I still don’t know why she reacted like she did or felt she needed to lie about it. Maybe it was a desperate attempt to gain my favor over my daughter or a plea for attention. Maybe it seemed better to her than the alternative of admitting what she did was wrong. My gut tells me that she lied because she was embarrassed and she really thought I’d believe her. Whatever her reason, with everything that already happened prior to that night, any respect I had left for my aunt was destroyed.